Julia and Mike found their wedding color palette in the aisles of Sherwin Williams, the bride told Pretty Little Weddings. “We fell for Plantation Brown, Reflecting Pool Blue and Hip Green,” Julia said. “We thought that it would be great to have a wedding that felt homey and DIY, and a reception that included touches of Tuscany. When we discussed it with our amazing planners, they ran with it.”

The couple offered guests signature drinks—such as Tangled Up In Blue and Green Grow The Rushes—that had romantic undertones as well as reflected their wedding colors. A DJ handled both the ceremony and reception music, allowing Julia to walk down the aisle to Mothersbaugh’s Canon from The Royal Tenenbaums. And the couple’s Tuscan love came through in their menu, which featured bruschetta, Penne arrabiata and chicken piccata.

Nicole knew immediately that she wanted a yellow and gray wedding—the rest, she said, didn’t come quite as easily. “At the beginning I lacked direction,” she told Pretty Little Weddings. “There were just too many pretty things I wanted to include. I think that finding the venue really helped us narrow our focus. Once we could visualize the site, we started building off of that. I am more rustic and the groom is more modern. So we decided to combine our two styles into a wedding that kept the outdoorsy and barnyard feel of the venue but didn’t end up looking country.”

“Since I had met James’ family,” the bride said, “I learned that James’ dad always had some homemade limoncello on hand. The yellow tone of the limoncello and the fact that it would be homemade, with love by us and our family, made it the perfect wedding favor.” The couple used chalkboards wherever possible, for everything for programs to a seating chart, to save on paper and serve as “a nod to James’ teaching profession,” Nicole said. And a group of family and friends helped put together the centerpieces, held in secondhand mason jars, the day before the wedding.

College sweethearts Anne and Ryan envisioned a “a relaxed but refined outdoor wedding,” the bride told Pretty Little Weddings. “We were instantly drawn to the beauty of the Cincinnati Nature Center and the Krippendorf Lodge, and immediately knew there was no better place to celebrate our special day. The venue was pretty in itself, but we knew that we could show our personality through added details, such as adding framed wedding photos of parents and grandparents in the inside library room.”

Ryan, a web designer, designed the couple’s paper products, including the escort tags hung from clothing lines. Floral arrangements were a mix of rich red roses and purple blooms, which stood out against simple cream colored linens. Anne said, “We sometimes disagreed over the nitty-gritty, but saw eye-to-eye on the big picture things. It’s really important to nail down the details and unique DIY projects, because those are the things that made the day as special as it was.”

As soon as she saw a picture of oversize balloons floating above a wedding ceremony, “I knew I had to have them,” Taelor told Pretty Little Weddings. So when the bride wed her fiancé, Alexander, the bridesmaids and groomsmen held huge, white, round balloons. Taelor and Alexander infused their wedding with yellow and purple details, and asked friends and family to chip in to keep within their budget.

So that they could stick within their budget, the couple asked a family friend to design their bouquets and boutonnieres. Bridesmaids were allowed to choose their own dresses, as long as they were in a shade of purple. And both bride and groom—and bridesmaids and groomsmen—sported Toms on their feet.